June 13, 2024 • 19 mins
Join us for a delightful evening with the legendary Irish comedian, Dave Young, who has been a staple on Irish TV for many years. Known for his wildly entertaining comedy shows, Dave shares his journey from being the class clown to becoming a celebrated comedian. He recounts his unique path into comedy, his inspirations, and how he keeps his performances fresh and engaging.
Dave also discusses his famous stunt of hanging over the River Liffey in a glass box, which brought him widespread recognition and raised significant funds for charity. He touches on his approach to comedy, audience interaction, and the challenges of performing in different countries.
For aspiring comedians, Dave offers insightful advice and encourages them to embrace their natural humor and get out there to perform. Don't miss this entertaining and inspirational episode with one of Ireland's finest comedians.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Good evening, everybody, and a very warm welcome to tonight's guest, Mr. Dave Young.
Dave has been seen all over Irish TV for many, many years and gained notoriety
for having one of the craziest comedy shows in the country.
Dave has been honoured with numerous industry accolades, including the Performing
(00:20):
Arts Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Arts.
So thank you, Dave, for joining me tonight. night. I've seen many of your shows
over the years, and I've even had you perform at my own 30th.
So tell us, Dave, how did you get into comedy?
How did I get into comedy? First of all, thanks for having me on,
and it's great to see you.
I think everyone's going to hear this, but I can see you. You look great.
(00:43):
How did I get into comedy? I suppose I started the way a girl becomes a hooker, you know?
You start doing it for your friends for nothing, and you think, jeez
i could get paid for this i'm actually
for people listening i was just taking a mouthful of
my tea how did
(01:05):
i get into comedy well i'll be honest with you i never wanted to be a comedian
it wasn't like a dream or you know you hear people saying it's been my life
ambition and all that i couldn't get into it by accident i was always the class
clown i'm an only child so i you know to to fend off the bullies in school.
You'll find most comedians were bullied in school, and I was a bit.
Nothing major, nothing like, say, the cyberbullying that goes on today or what
(01:28):
poor kids have to put up with with social media.
Nothing like that. Just stupid stuff, you know, guys robbing your lunch or,
you know, all this sort of stuff.
So the best way of dealing with that was to make them laugh,
because if they're laughing, then they kind of like you, endears them to you.
So I was always the class clown.
Was your mum or dad like that, Dave?
(01:48):
My dad was very funny unintentionally, you know, he, he wouldn't tell jokes or anything like that.
He'd say stuff that would be just funny.
Like I remember one time we were having weather here in Ireland,
you're over there in England.
I don't know what the weather's like, but here it's, it's raining in between
the showers. My Jesus, it's brutal.
Like if anyone was asking, you know, the way they say when they're going to
(02:11):
a different country, what's a good time of year to go?
You You know, would I go between January and March? Oh, no, don't go then.
The weather isn't, you know, it won't be good. Well, what about June to August?
Oh, no, it'll be brutal then.
Well, what about September? Wouldn't bother then either.
That's Ireland. I think that's why everybody in Ireland has such a good sense
(02:31):
of humour. You'd have to with the weather living here.
But back to my dad, he would unintentionally be quite funny.
I remember one time saying, my mum saying to him, she's the weather's brutal
and he said but it's May and she was thinking what's May got to do with how
the weather is, it may rain,
(02:52):
it may snow you know what I mean, he'd be like that, my mother.
No, my mom would be very quiet and a typical soft woman and quiet.
And she loves coming to my shows. And when I say outlandish things,
she kind of blesses herself and stuff like that.
Even though she's not religious at all, for other people in case they're looking
(03:15):
at her, you know, to look like she's and she's heard me say it a million times,
you know, but so I actually got into comedy was I I used to be the lead singer of a band.
And when a guitar string would break or there'd be a problem with the lights
or one of the instruments, to keep it going, I'd start talking and messing with
(03:36):
the audience and throw in a few jokes.
And then after a while, there was more people coming to hear the jokes and the
crack than to hear the band.
And then the band were saying to me, you know, we want to be musicians,
we don't want to be listening to jokes.
So I parted with the band and then became a comedian.
Comedian so that's how it kind of happened but never i
(03:57):
never intentionally wanted to go though for for comedian i
mean i've i've watched you perform and that said over the years
and i mean it wasn't christmas unless you're in the red cow watching a dave
young show and particularly in our house um but you don't go you can't go to
a university for it so you're just obviously using you're improvising all the
time and you're kind of when you have a big crowd how do you do involve people
(04:19):
in the crowds and get them up on stage or is it kind of rehearsed beforehand.
No, I'll let you in on a secret about how I work. I write nothing down. I have no scripts.
I have a rough idea. I know how the show is starting, and I know roughly how it's going to end.
I probably have about six different endings that I'll pick on the night, depending on the crowd.
(04:43):
But what happens after I make my entrance and before the end is a bit of a free-for-all,
you know? And that's what keeps me sharp and keeps me fresh.
I'd be an awful, like I played Fagin in the musical Oliver for three months
in the Tivoli theater a few years ago.
And that was torture for me because I had to stick to a script.
(05:07):
Obviously, you know, I had to say my lines so the other actors could say their lines.
And in one way, I couldn't believe how handy it is to be an actor.
You're given the lines and saying, you just repeat them like a parrot.
You don't have to think on your feet.
The opposite side of that for me was I couldn't think on my feet.
I couldn't say what I really wanted to say, you know.
(05:29):
So how I keep sharp and keep the show fresh is every audience is different.
Every room you play in is different. So if I'm in a theatre,
they're the best audiences because they have very little drink on them.
It's an eight o'clock show.
There's nothing in your way. You have the best sound, the best lighting,
and there's no distractions.
(05:50):
And they've paid in to see you. So they already kind of half love you before you walk on.
My job is really to show up and then from then on in, make them laugh.
But even just showing up for some people is enough, you know. Do you find that comedy?
You're spoiling it. The country has changed, though, over the years. I mean, I know...
Personally, from seeing a lot of your shows, like you'll rip into anyone that you can.
(06:15):
And I remember something you said at my birthday, you said, all is pure to the pure mind.
And I thought that's very true. And it's an honest comment and it stuck with
me because you're right, all is pure to the pure mind.
So do you find now people that are offended with this? Do you get that in your shows?
I don't think anything has changed over the years in the sense of the people
(06:36):
People who get offended would always get offended, you know.
There's actually people who go to shows just to be offended.
Now, I find that quite offensive.
I remember a woman saying to me one night, I'm offended with what you said.
And I said, well, I'm offended, you're offended.
And she went, what? Oh, I said, well, can you be the only one who gets offended?
My God, I can't believe you said that.
(06:58):
You know, look, one person will laugh at, another person will go,
oh, my God, right? Right.
And when any comedian, every comedian comes up against this and,
you know, unless you're sadistic, you won't be saying stuff deliberately to
cause offense, which I don't.
I'm basically everything I say is meant in fun and in the spirit of fun.
(07:24):
Even when I say, I might say something and I put on an African person's voice
for a minute to illustrate it's It's an African person, you know,
they, you know, some people go, oh, that's racist. Well, they are African.
He does talk like that. If I put on a Chinese voice telling a joke about when
I was in Africa, it wouldn't make any sense, you know, and I don't know what racism is, to be honest.
(07:46):
I really don't because I think to know all about racism, you've got to be a racist.
You've got to be sensitive to that subject. I know nothing about racism.
I know I'm the only colored comedian in Kenya.
But I don't know anything about racism. I don't think I taught this podcast to you.
But honestly, I don't know.
(08:09):
Look, I know what's obvious not to say, you know, and I know.
But there's certain things I just say, and I try and say what you would say
yourself if you were in that situation.
For instance, when people, the odd time people would say to me,
why do you have to use bad language every now and again in your show?
No, I've toned it down quite a bit, And I only say it very sporadically,
(08:32):
you know, an odd bit of bad language.
But we all do that. There is nobody on earth who doesn't curse.
Nobody. When someone slams their hand on a car door, they don't go, oh, my goodness.
They'll say something, you know, because it's a reaction.
And sometimes a joker needs that extra push to make it real.
(08:52):
Do you ever perform outside Ireland?
Yeah. I perform in England and I perform in Spain.
I basically perform anywhere, but I have a place in Spain. When I'm down in Spain, I do some shows.
It keeps me off the streets. I get bored on holidays.
And do you have to tailor then for those? Because obviously the Irish,
even over here, people, the way we speak, as in being Irish,
(09:17):
people in England actually think that you're giving out to each other,
that you're in some sort of hostile. And they're like, no, we're just talking.
Yeah, yeah. Not really. No, I don't. See, I don't sound typically...
Irish or Dublin, you know, people can't really pin my accent down.
I don't know where it came from. I'm originally from Walkenstown.
(09:37):
So that wouldn't, you wouldn't get more Dublin than that.
But no, when I, in my shows in, in say Spain, you'll have English people,
Irish people, there'll be no Spanish people.
It'll be basically anybody who speaks English will go and see a comedian in Spain.
So you get a few Germans, the odd time lost, you'll get Scottish,
(09:58):
Welsh, that type of thing.
The humor works exactly the same because I don't really do a lot of what the
other comedians do in the sense of, you know, the way, what would you call it?
I suppose it's all observational. They do, because in my show,
I sing this audience participation, like I love funny songs.
(10:19):
I'll take people out of the audience and I'll do things with them,
funny routines and someone quite
visual you know now there is jokes and
there is stories in there but they all seem to get it you know
thank god where was your big break i mean we're used to seeing you on tv we
had you on the lately show we've had you on all the the major platforms but
what age were you when you actually started to get noticed i mean we didn't
(10:42):
have social media back then so it was all word of mouth yeah assuming the big
i suppose the big time was in In 2003,
I hung over the Liffey in a glass box, and I was doing an Irish send-up of a
famous American magician called David Blaine,
where he hung over the Thames in London in a glass box, and he was starving for 44 days.
(11:07):
And that was his illusion, that he was there all the time, and he didn't eat or drink for 44 days.
So I did it the Irish way around, to take the piss out of it.
I was eating and drinking like a king, hanging over the leafy in a glass box
for 44 hours, which is about two and a half days.
(11:27):
So I went into the box on a Friday evening and I came over on a Sunday evening,
probably a few pounds heavier.
Did you get them to give you permission to do that?
Oh, you wouldn't believe how it would go through. Well, first of all,
I raised £50,000 at the time for the homeless, which was great.
They were called the Capuchin monks.
(11:49):
They were all involved in it. I kept calling them the Cabbage Patch monks.
Capuchin, I think, is their name. Anyway, to get permission to do this was unbelievable.
I had to have meetings with the Dublin Port. I had to have meetings with the
Gardaí, which is the Irish version of the police.
I had to have meetings. I've only gone two years, Dave. I remember what the Gardaí are.
(12:10):
No, I mean, for your English listeners, they might know what it is.
But when I, and I remember at one meeting with Dublin Port, the ND,
or the main guy anyway, said to me, and what's the name of this stuntman that's
going into this boxing and hanging 50 feet over the living?
I said, well, he's not a stuntman. and he's a comedian, and it's me.
(12:32):
And he took it. And I remember a guard, one of the police guys,
saying to me, are you putting targets on the box, at the glass box?
I said, what do you mean, targets? He said, do you not know every kid from Sheriff
Street, which would be a rough part of Dublin, that owns a pellet gun or a sling
or can fire a rock? Oh, I love this.
(12:54):
Well, I never thought of that. But do you know, when I went into that,
I was up there before, before I went in for about two weeks up to doing the stunt.
I did loads of interviews and every fella pretty much that interviewed asked
me a question, the same question.
And every female interviewer asked me a similar question.
(13:18):
And it made me laugh. Every female wanted to know, how was I going to go to the toilet?
That's all they wanted to know. They didn't care about the food,
the shrink, the raising the money.
It was all, you're going into a glass box for nearly three days.
How are you going to toilet? That's all they wanted to know,
right? Do you know what every fellow wanted to know?
(13:39):
When you're in there, will you have one?
That's what every bloke wanted to know. So that'll give you an idea of the differences
between us fellas and girls. Yeah, there you go.
But that's when I probably broke through. That was the big kind of then,
because after that, everybody, the coverage that got, it was in every newspaper.
(14:02):
I was on the six o'clock Irish news as like when they read the main things in the news, they said.
And today in the literary years, a guy and they and RT camera crew came down
and videoed the whole thing. and I was on the 9 o'clock news.
And at that stage, I hadn't been on the Late Late Show.
And everyone said to me, you know, it's one thing getting on the Late Late Show.
(14:24):
Not everybody gets on the news.
Well, you get on if you throw an egg at the Taoiseach or you shoot somebody
or kill someone, but not many people.
So that's really, that was the turning point. So a big publicity stunt,
but we're underneath it all though. The homeless got £50,000.
So it was for a good cause, you know.
That is very good, Cos. I'm going to have to look it up. Is it on YouTube?
(14:49):
Yeah, it's on my channel on YouTube, the whole clip of it.
If anybody goes to Dave Young YouTube or Dave Young, what's my website?
YoungOneProductions.com or DaveYoungLive.com. You'll see it on there.
There's a link. Speaking of Young One, my mother said you have to ask them.
She said she's gone to your shows for over 10 years and she'd like to know how
(15:12):
come you haven't aged And who's your doctor?
Yeah, I don't seem to change. It's great. You haven't changed. I know, it's mad.
It's mad. I'll be 55 on August the 16th in a few weeks' time. That's my birthday.
And it's the same. I share this. That's the day Elvis died, actually,
the 16th of August. Do you know who I share a birthday with? Madonna.
(15:35):
Her birthday, she's 65 this year on the 16th of August. I send her a card every
year, but the bitch never sees it.
Anyway, what's the secret to keeping young? I don't know. It's probably the job I'm in, laughing.
Imagine laughing for a living. It's positive affirmations. Dave Young,
then you have Young One Productions. Where did you get an email?
(15:59):
That's my email on my website. Young One Productions. Well, look,
I try not to get stressed.
I am only human and different things. I have two kids now. I have a little seven-year-old,
two little girls, a seven-year-old.
And a three-year-old, Nikki and Charlie, and they keep me young as well.
And I'm very happy, and my girlfriend is Polish, and that's great because the
(16:23):
mother-in-law, as I call her, doesn't speak a word of English,
so you wouldn't get a more perfect mother. It's all sign language.
So I think the trick is laugh a lot and enjoy what you do. And that will keep you young, you know.
Yeah, I'm hanging in there. OK, the hair's all done, but I don't mind that.
If anybody wants to go see your show, David or David, where am I getting David? Don't call me David.
(16:50):
My mother calls me David when I've done something wrong. David.
I always call people by their first name. If anybody wants to go see your show,
is there anything that's coming up? but where can we access the information?
The easiest way is just go to the website or come on to my Facebook or Instagram pages.
The website is daveyounglive.com and on there, there's no tour dates listed
(17:15):
at the moment, but there will be very, very soon.
No problem at all. And you're busy with weddings as well.
Yeah, I do a separate thing. I call myself The Wedding Comedian.
That's a whole website, theweddingcomedian.ie.
You can get to it from the other one as well. They're all linked.
Yeah, I do a one hour show at weddings.
Usually, you know, that gap between the meal and when the band comes on and
(17:37):
everyone goes missing, they go back to their bedrooms, you know,
to put more vodka in their handbags or to rob the drapes or whatever it is.
So instead of losing the audience, I come in there and make everybody laugh.
And then I leave them on their feet. The band kicks in and they get to dance the night away.
So it's all cool. Do you feel that you have to hold back because it's a wedding
(17:59):
and you have the mothers and the fathers?
It all depends. I always meet the bride and groom beforehand and I have spent
about five minutes with them and then I get a little idea.
And I would ask, is there many kids in the room? You know, and once the kids
are over, say 10, I know it will be all OK.
And any older people who don't get the joke, the kids will explain it to them.
(18:21):
For anyone young that's watching or listening sorry
is there something that you could give words of encouragement there's a
lot of people that want to go into this line of work i know one person in particular
and he's finding it quite difficult at the moment he said even though social
media i mean it should be a lot easier for people being able to put themselves
up on social media is there anything that you could say or suggest for them
(18:42):
to kind of find themselves for being a comedian in Ireland?
Well, first of all, if they're funny naturally, that's, I think,
is the real trick to all of this.
I don't think you can really teach somebody to be a comedian.
There's actually courses now on how to be a comedian and stuff like that.
(19:02):
I think if you're naturally at ease with making people laugh and you enjoy laughing
yourself, I think then it could be the job for you, definitely.
But any tips on how to get into it, I would just say get out there and just
start keeping it. Get your CV to Dave, you know.
Yeah, get your CV to me. I did do the Laughter Lounge once for three nights, I headlined it.
(19:24):
They only want you to do 10, 15 minutes and the headline is 30 minutes.
His act might be 30 minutes, you know. Sure, I'm only getting going after an hour.
My shows are usually an hour and a half to two hours. Some nights,
people have to shave twice.
Good luck bye.
Good evening, everybody, and a very warm welcome to tonight's guest, Mr. Dave Young.
Dave has been seen all over Irish TV for many, many years and gained notoriety
for having one of the craziest comedy shows in the country.
Dave has been honoured with numerous industry accolades, including the Performing
(00:20):
Arts Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Arts.
So thank you, Dave, for joining me tonight. night. I've seen many of your shows
over the years, and I've even had you perform at my own 30th.
So tell us, Dave, how did you get into comedy?
How did I get into comedy? First of all, thanks for having me on,
and it's great to see you.
I think everyone's going to hear this, but I can see you. You look great.
(00:43):
How did I get into comedy? I suppose I started the way a girl becomes a hooker, you know?
You start doing it for your friends for nothing, and you think, jeez
i could get paid for this i'm actually
for people listening i was just taking a mouthful of
my tea how did
(01:05):
i get into comedy well i'll be honest with you i never wanted to be a comedian
it wasn't like a dream or you know you hear people saying it's been my life
ambition and all that i couldn't get into it by accident i was always the class
clown i'm an only child so i you know to to fend off the bullies in school.
You'll find most comedians were bullied in school, and I was a bit.
Nothing major, nothing like, say, the cyberbullying that goes on today or what
(01:28):
poor kids have to put up with with social media.
Nothing like that. Just stupid stuff, you know, guys robbing your lunch or,
you know, all this sort of stuff.
So the best way of dealing with that was to make them laugh,
because if they're laughing, then they kind of like you, endears them to you.
So I was always the class clown.
Was your mum or dad like that, Dave?
(01:48):
My dad was very funny unintentionally, you know, he, he wouldn't tell jokes or anything like that.
He'd say stuff that would be just funny.
Like I remember one time we were having weather here in Ireland,
you're over there in England.
I don't know what the weather's like, but here it's, it's raining in between
the showers. My Jesus, it's brutal.
Like if anyone was asking, you know, the way they say when they're going to
(02:11):
a different country, what's a good time of year to go?
You You know, would I go between January and March? Oh, no, don't go then.
The weather isn't, you know, it won't be good. Well, what about June to August?
Oh, no, it'll be brutal then.
Well, what about September? Wouldn't bother then either.
That's Ireland. I think that's why everybody in Ireland has such a good sense
(02:31):
of humour. You'd have to with the weather living here.
But back to my dad, he would unintentionally be quite funny.
I remember one time saying, my mum saying to him, she's the weather's brutal
and he said but it's May and she was thinking what's May got to do with how
the weather is, it may rain,
(02:52):
it may snow you know what I mean, he'd be like that, my mother.
No, my mom would be very quiet and a typical soft woman and quiet.
And she loves coming to my shows. And when I say outlandish things,
she kind of blesses herself and stuff like that.
Even though she's not religious at all, for other people in case they're looking
(03:15):
at her, you know, to look like she's and she's heard me say it a million times,
you know, but so I actually got into comedy was I I used to be the lead singer of a band.
And when a guitar string would break or there'd be a problem with the lights
or one of the instruments, to keep it going, I'd start talking and messing with
(03:36):
the audience and throw in a few jokes.
And then after a while, there was more people coming to hear the jokes and the
crack than to hear the band.
And then the band were saying to me, you know, we want to be musicians,
we don't want to be listening to jokes.
So I parted with the band and then became a comedian.
Comedian so that's how it kind of happened but never i
(03:57):
never intentionally wanted to go though for for comedian i
mean i've i've watched you perform and that said over the years
and i mean it wasn't christmas unless you're in the red cow watching a dave
young show and particularly in our house um but you don't go you can't go to
a university for it so you're just obviously using you're improvising all the
time and you're kind of when you have a big crowd how do you do involve people
(04:19):
in the crowds and get them up on stage or is it kind of rehearsed beforehand.
No, I'll let you in on a secret about how I work. I write nothing down. I have no scripts.
I have a rough idea. I know how the show is starting, and I know roughly how it's going to end.
I probably have about six different endings that I'll pick on the night, depending on the crowd.
(04:43):
But what happens after I make my entrance and before the end is a bit of a free-for-all,
you know? And that's what keeps me sharp and keeps me fresh.
I'd be an awful, like I played Fagin in the musical Oliver for three months
in the Tivoli theater a few years ago.
And that was torture for me because I had to stick to a script.
(05:07):
Obviously, you know, I had to say my lines so the other actors could say their lines.
And in one way, I couldn't believe how handy it is to be an actor.
You're given the lines and saying, you just repeat them like a parrot.
You don't have to think on your feet.
The opposite side of that for me was I couldn't think on my feet.
I couldn't say what I really wanted to say, you know.
(05:29):
So how I keep sharp and keep the show fresh is every audience is different.
Every room you play in is different. So if I'm in a theatre,
they're the best audiences because they have very little drink on them.
It's an eight o'clock show.
There's nothing in your way. You have the best sound, the best lighting,
and there's no distractions.
(05:50):
And they've paid in to see you. So they already kind of half love you before you walk on.
My job is really to show up and then from then on in, make them laugh.
But even just showing up for some people is enough, you know. Do you find that comedy?
You're spoiling it. The country has changed, though, over the years. I mean, I know...
Personally, from seeing a lot of your shows, like you'll rip into anyone that you can.
(06:15):
And I remember something you said at my birthday, you said, all is pure to the pure mind.
And I thought that's very true. And it's an honest comment and it stuck with
me because you're right, all is pure to the pure mind.
So do you find now people that are offended with this? Do you get that in your shows?
I don't think anything has changed over the years in the sense of the people
(06:36):
People who get offended would always get offended, you know.
There's actually people who go to shows just to be offended.
Now, I find that quite offensive.
I remember a woman saying to me one night, I'm offended with what you said.
And I said, well, I'm offended, you're offended.
And she went, what? Oh, I said, well, can you be the only one who gets offended?
My God, I can't believe you said that.
(06:58):
You know, look, one person will laugh at, another person will go,
oh, my God, right? Right.
And when any comedian, every comedian comes up against this and,
you know, unless you're sadistic, you won't be saying stuff deliberately to
cause offense, which I don't.
I'm basically everything I say is meant in fun and in the spirit of fun.
(07:24):
Even when I say, I might say something and I put on an African person's voice
for a minute to illustrate it's It's an African person, you know,
they, you know, some people go, oh, that's racist. Well, they are African.
He does talk like that. If I put on a Chinese voice telling a joke about when
I was in Africa, it wouldn't make any sense, you know, and I don't know what racism is, to be honest.
(07:46):
I really don't because I think to know all about racism, you've got to be a racist.
You've got to be sensitive to that subject. I know nothing about racism.
I know I'm the only colored comedian in Kenya.
But I don't know anything about racism. I don't think I taught this podcast to you.
But honestly, I don't know.
(08:09):
Look, I know what's obvious not to say, you know, and I know.
But there's certain things I just say, and I try and say what you would say
yourself if you were in that situation.
For instance, when people, the odd time people would say to me,
why do you have to use bad language every now and again in your show?
No, I've toned it down quite a bit, And I only say it very sporadically,
(08:32):
you know, an odd bit of bad language.
But we all do that. There is nobody on earth who doesn't curse.
Nobody. When someone slams their hand on a car door, they don't go, oh, my goodness.
They'll say something, you know, because it's a reaction.
And sometimes a joker needs that extra push to make it real.
(08:52):
Do you ever perform outside Ireland?
Yeah. I perform in England and I perform in Spain.
I basically perform anywhere, but I have a place in Spain. When I'm down in Spain, I do some shows.
It keeps me off the streets. I get bored on holidays.
And do you have to tailor then for those? Because obviously the Irish,
even over here, people, the way we speak, as in being Irish,
(09:17):
people in England actually think that you're giving out to each other,
that you're in some sort of hostile. And they're like, no, we're just talking.
Yeah, yeah. Not really. No, I don't. See, I don't sound typically...
Irish or Dublin, you know, people can't really pin my accent down.
I don't know where it came from. I'm originally from Walkenstown.
(09:37):
So that wouldn't, you wouldn't get more Dublin than that.
But no, when I, in my shows in, in say Spain, you'll have English people,
Irish people, there'll be no Spanish people.
It'll be basically anybody who speaks English will go and see a comedian in Spain.
So you get a few Germans, the odd time lost, you'll get Scottish,
(09:58):
Welsh, that type of thing.
The humor works exactly the same because I don't really do a lot of what the
other comedians do in the sense of, you know, the way, what would you call it?
I suppose it's all observational. They do, because in my show,
I sing this audience participation, like I love funny songs.
(10:19):
I'll take people out of the audience and I'll do things with them,
funny routines and someone quite
visual you know now there is jokes and
there is stories in there but they all seem to get it you know
thank god where was your big break i mean we're used to seeing you on tv we
had you on the lately show we've had you on all the the major platforms but
what age were you when you actually started to get noticed i mean we didn't
(10:42):
have social media back then so it was all word of mouth yeah assuming the big
i suppose the big time was in In 2003,
I hung over the Liffey in a glass box, and I was doing an Irish send-up of a
famous American magician called David Blaine,
where he hung over the Thames in London in a glass box, and he was starving for 44 days.
(11:07):
And that was his illusion, that he was there all the time, and he didn't eat or drink for 44 days.
So I did it the Irish way around, to take the piss out of it.
I was eating and drinking like a king, hanging over the leafy in a glass box
for 44 hours, which is about two and a half days.
(11:27):
So I went into the box on a Friday evening and I came over on a Sunday evening,
probably a few pounds heavier.
Did you get them to give you permission to do that?
Oh, you wouldn't believe how it would go through. Well, first of all,
I raised £50,000 at the time for the homeless, which was great.
They were called the Capuchin monks.
(11:49):
They were all involved in it. I kept calling them the Cabbage Patch monks.
Capuchin, I think, is their name. Anyway, to get permission to do this was unbelievable.
I had to have meetings with the Dublin Port. I had to have meetings with the
Gardaí, which is the Irish version of the police.
I had to have meetings. I've only gone two years, Dave. I remember what the Gardaí are.
(12:10):
No, I mean, for your English listeners, they might know what it is.
But when I, and I remember at one meeting with Dublin Port, the ND,
or the main guy anyway, said to me, and what's the name of this stuntman that's
going into this boxing and hanging 50 feet over the living?
I said, well, he's not a stuntman. and he's a comedian, and it's me.
(12:32):
And he took it. And I remember a guard, one of the police guys,
saying to me, are you putting targets on the box, at the glass box?
I said, what do you mean, targets? He said, do you not know every kid from Sheriff
Street, which would be a rough part of Dublin, that owns a pellet gun or a sling
or can fire a rock? Oh, I love this.
(12:54):
Well, I never thought of that. But do you know, when I went into that,
I was up there before, before I went in for about two weeks up to doing the stunt.
I did loads of interviews and every fella pretty much that interviewed asked
me a question, the same question.
And every female interviewer asked me a similar question.
(13:18):
And it made me laugh. Every female wanted to know, how was I going to go to the toilet?
That's all they wanted to know. They didn't care about the food,
the shrink, the raising the money.
It was all, you're going into a glass box for nearly three days.
How are you going to toilet? That's all they wanted to know,
right? Do you know what every fellow wanted to know?
(13:39):
When you're in there, will you have one?
That's what every bloke wanted to know. So that'll give you an idea of the differences
between us fellas and girls. Yeah, there you go.
But that's when I probably broke through. That was the big kind of then,
because after that, everybody, the coverage that got, it was in every newspaper.
(14:02):
I was on the six o'clock Irish news as like when they read the main things in the news, they said.
And today in the literary years, a guy and they and RT camera crew came down
and videoed the whole thing. and I was on the 9 o'clock news.
And at that stage, I hadn't been on the Late Late Show.
And everyone said to me, you know, it's one thing getting on the Late Late Show.
(14:24):
Not everybody gets on the news.
Well, you get on if you throw an egg at the Taoiseach or you shoot somebody
or kill someone, but not many people.
So that's really, that was the turning point. So a big publicity stunt,
but we're underneath it all though. The homeless got £50,000.
So it was for a good cause, you know.
That is very good, Cos. I'm going to have to look it up. Is it on YouTube?
(14:49):
Yeah, it's on my channel on YouTube, the whole clip of it.
If anybody goes to Dave Young YouTube or Dave Young, what's my website?
YoungOneProductions.com or DaveYoungLive.com. You'll see it on there.
There's a link. Speaking of Young One, my mother said you have to ask them.
She said she's gone to your shows for over 10 years and she'd like to know how
(15:12):
come you haven't aged And who's your doctor?
Yeah, I don't seem to change. It's great. You haven't changed. I know, it's mad.
It's mad. I'll be 55 on August the 16th in a few weeks' time. That's my birthday.
And it's the same. I share this. That's the day Elvis died, actually,
the 16th of August. Do you know who I share a birthday with? Madonna.
(15:35):
Her birthday, she's 65 this year on the 16th of August. I send her a card every
year, but the bitch never sees it.
Anyway, what's the secret to keeping young? I don't know. It's probably the job I'm in, laughing.
Imagine laughing for a living. It's positive affirmations. Dave Young,
then you have Young One Productions. Where did you get an email?
(15:59):
That's my email on my website. Young One Productions. Well, look,
I try not to get stressed.
I am only human and different things. I have two kids now. I have a little seven-year-old,
two little girls, a seven-year-old.
And a three-year-old, Nikki and Charlie, and they keep me young as well.
And I'm very happy, and my girlfriend is Polish, and that's great because the
(16:23):
mother-in-law, as I call her, doesn't speak a word of English,
so you wouldn't get a more perfect mother. It's all sign language.
So I think the trick is laugh a lot and enjoy what you do. And that will keep you young, you know.
Yeah, I'm hanging in there. OK, the hair's all done, but I don't mind that.
If anybody wants to go see your show, David or David, where am I getting David? Don't call me David.
(16:50):
My mother calls me David when I've done something wrong. David.
I always call people by their first name. If anybody wants to go see your show,
is there anything that's coming up? but where can we access the information?
The easiest way is just go to the website or come on to my Facebook or Instagram pages.
The website is daveyounglive.com and on there, there's no tour dates listed
(17:15):
at the moment, but there will be very, very soon.
No problem at all. And you're busy with weddings as well.
Yeah, I do a separate thing. I call myself The Wedding Comedian.
That's a whole website, theweddingcomedian.ie.
You can get to it from the other one as well. They're all linked.
Yeah, I do a one hour show at weddings.
Usually, you know, that gap between the meal and when the band comes on and
(17:37):
everyone goes missing, they go back to their bedrooms, you know,
to put more vodka in their handbags or to rob the drapes or whatever it is.
So instead of losing the audience, I come in there and make everybody laugh.
And then I leave them on their feet. The band kicks in and they get to dance the night away.
So it's all cool. Do you feel that you have to hold back because it's a wedding
(17:59):
and you have the mothers and the fathers?
It all depends. I always meet the bride and groom beforehand and I have spent
about five minutes with them and then I get a little idea.
And I would ask, is there many kids in the room? You know, and once the kids
are over, say 10, I know it will be all OK.
And any older people who don't get the joke, the kids will explain it to them.
(18:21):
For anyone young that's watching or listening sorry
is there something that you could give words of encouragement there's a
lot of people that want to go into this line of work i know one person in particular
and he's finding it quite difficult at the moment he said even though social
media i mean it should be a lot easier for people being able to put themselves
up on social media is there anything that you could say or suggest for them
(18:42):
to kind of find themselves for being a comedian in Ireland?
Well, first of all, if they're funny naturally, that's, I think,
is the real trick to all of this.
I don't think you can really teach somebody to be a comedian.
There's actually courses now on how to be a comedian and stuff like that.
(19:02):
I think if you're naturally at ease with making people laugh and you enjoy laughing
yourself, I think then it could be the job for you, definitely.
But any tips on how to get into it, I would just say get out there and just
start keeping it. Get your CV to Dave, you know.
Yeah, get your CV to me. I did do the Laughter Lounge once for three nights, I headlined it.
(19:24):
They only want you to do 10, 15 minutes and the headline is 30 minutes.
His act might be 30 minutes, you know. Sure, I'm only getting going after an hour.
My shows are usually an hour and a half to two hours. Some nights,
people have to shave twice.
Good luck bye.
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